High Temperature Mechanical Properties of Ni-YSZ Cermets for SOFC Anode

The mechanical properties of Ni-YSZ cermets at high temperature in reduction atmosphere were evaluated by the four points bending method. We studied the influences of reduction and thermal cycles, i.e. a cycle from R.T. to 800°C, to flexural strength and Young’s modulus. The flexural strength of Ni-YSZ at room temperature was lower than that of NiO-YSZ by about 10 to 20% mainly caused by the increment of porosity. But, the flexural strength of Ni-YSZ at 800°C was drastically decreased by an half of that at R.T. In addition, the stress–strain diagram of Ni-YSZ at 800°C indicated that it showed weak ductility. The maximum observed strain was over 0.5% at 30MPa. On the contrary, NiO-YSZ showed only brittlely at 800°C. The difference was caused by Ni metal in the Ni-YSZ cermets. Therefore, it was expected that Ni-YSZ is easily deformed in operation, though residual stress between an anode and an electrolyte was low. The influence of thermal cycles to flexural strength and Young’s modulus was not observed clearly. At the same time, the differences of microstructure were not observed. Therefore, it was concluded that the cycle does not change mechanical properties significantly.